Separate Entities
by Mr. Phich
Summary: Fred and George have always been FredAndGeorge. Until Harry taught them different. FW/GW FW/HP GW/HP FW/HP/GW. Twincest.


Separate Entities

Summary: Fred and George have always been _FredAndGeorge_. Until Harry taught them different. _FW/GW FW/HP GW/HP FW/HP/GW. Twincest.  
_

Fred and George had always known they could never be separated. It was impossible to imagine, because, really, at the base of things they weren't even separate beings. They were and always would be one. They knew that nothing could change that, not life, nor death. They were one. It was a certainty of their life, this unity. It was a certainty that kept them from having close friends, or dating, or in the longer run marrying. If they needed companionship, they had each other. If they needed comfort, they had each other. If they needed sex, they had each other.

No one could tell them apart, and in that there was unity.

No one could tell them apart, and in that there was certainty.

Everything they were was based on the fact that nobody could ever tell them apart but the other.

And then along came Harry Potter, with his too large clothes, his broken glasses and his shy smile.

At first, they didn't think anything of it. So what that he always guessed their names right- that really wasn't a big deal.

But it changed in fifth year, after they gave him the map. The smiles he gave them were different. He looked at George differently than he did at Fred. He started seeking only one of them out, grabbing them when they were in the bathroom, or when the other was. He'd smile at whoever he had with him, and call him by his proper name, and ask how he was doing. And then he would shake his head when he said "We-". He'd say "I didn't ask about Fred," or "I don't want to know about George."

For Harry Potter they were separate entities. They did not come together. They did not come in a package. They were separate. Separate. Separate.

It was a heady and scary feeling. They were honest with each other. They told each other what they felt. They were still together, always, but they were also separate- for Harry Potter at least.

Harry wrote them that summer. A lot of their friends did, except this was different.

Harry didn't write...._Dear Fred and George_

He wrote two different letters, one addressed to George and one to Fred. The letters didn't even come at the same time, or on the same days or in any sort of pattern at all. Sometimes Harry only wrote George for a week, but sometimes George didn't get any letters for days and days.

When he came to the Burrow, things changed again. Because Harry didn't keep their _separateness _secret. He spoke to George at the breakfast table, but not Fred. He asked Fred to go flying with him, but not George. And the others began to notice.

"How do you tell them apart, dear?" Their mum would ask.

"George has more freckles." Harry would answer.

"No he doesn't," Mum would say, looking at them both, as though trying to count their freckles.

Harry would shrug and smile and say, "No, maybe not."

"Why d'you only talk to one of 'em sometimes Harry?" Ron would ask through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Because I only talk to one of you Ron." Harry said, rolling his eyes, as though that should be obvious. Then he grinned at George and winked at Fred, as though they were in on some grand scheme that the others didn't understand.

Only they didn't understand either.

At the Quidditch World Cup, Harry somehow sat between them, and they didn't talk to each other at all during the game. Only Harry and their brothers.

And afterwards, when the world was dark, and there were screams in the air, they were together again, because Harry was not there. And they worried over him, because he was special, and he saw them differently.

That year, things changed again.

Harry kissed George, and told him he thought he was handsome and asked him to Hogsmeade.

And then before the Hogsmeade weekend could come, he kissed Fred, and told him he thought he was brave and asked him to Hogsmeade. And so they went on a date, together, but separate.

And Harry dated both of them, never letting one feel neglected, but never letting them be the same, be one. Sometimes he would kiss only one of them, but sometimes he would bring them both together and ask them to teach him about each other's bodies. And they learned about Harry, sometimes together, as they had always learned before, but sometimes separate, and in that way they came to know different things about Harry, things they didn't share with each other, because it was theirs', solely so, to know. They didn't tell each other Harry's secrets, even though they still told each other their own.

In their final year of Hogwarts, they learned more about being separate but also united, and they learned how from Harry. In the D.A. he forced them to work with other people. He asked Fred to come out to his family, but not for George to. They both asked him why, and Harry gave them the same answer.

"Because you/Fred is ready, and George/you are not."

He spent longer times with just one of them, secluding George and himself in the Room of Requirement for a whole weekend.

He also spent longer periods with both of them, in and out of bed.

But even as Harry taught them how to be Fred and George, instead of just _FredAndGeorge, _he didn't ask them for what they were not ready for. He did not ask them to reveal their relationship, how they were _both _with Harry. Harry knew, perhaps had always known, that it was complicated, that they did not yet know how to be Fred and George in the world, and not just with Harry.

And when they had to leave Hogwarts, Harry watched them go, and he cried, and they knew he cried for both of them. Separately, but also, as a package. Because, to Harry, they were both.

In the next two years, they did not see Harry much, but he did not let them forget the lessons he had taught. He still sent them letters, separate un-patterned letters, which were Fred's and George's but not _FredAndGeorge's. _

And the long year, when Harry was gone from them, when they didn't hear from him at all and didn't know where he was and worried about him, because they loved him, they did it by themselves and together, as Harry had taught them. When they finally saw Harry again, they knew that he had taught them what he had needed to teach them, and now they would teach him how to get back up again, how to lean on someone, how to be weak, how to cry.

And they fought side by side with him in the Final Battle, with him between them, as things had always been with them.

And they all survived, because Harry had taught them how to be strong in their own separate bodies but also in their inherent togetherness.

Not long after that battle, Harry asked Fred to marry him.

They got married.

Not long after that, Harry asked George to marry him.

They got married.

And then they bonded all three of them together, because they were separate, but they were also together.

And Harry had taught them that.


End file.
